David Rock

Subtle internal changes, which can happen within a fraction of a second and may not be noticeable to the outside world, can sometimes change everything. This book will help you understand, isolate, and reproduce such changes.

If you want a specific new map to stay in place, it’s important to reactivate that map regularly. Attention changes the brain, but the brain pays attention to a lot of things. Real change requires repetition.

The surprise result of being always on is that not only do you get a negative effect on mental performance, but it also tends to increase the total number of emails you get. People notice you respond to issues quickly, so they send you more issues to respond to.

Minimize energy usage to maximize performance.

It’s not hard to change your brain. You just need to put in enough effort to focus your attention in new ways.

Unmet expectations are one of the most important experiences to avoid, as these generate the stronger threat response. ‘With any brain function, the important thing is firstly to minimize threat,’ explains Evian Gordon. ‘Only once threat has been minimized can you focus on increasing possible rewards.’ Great leaders carefully manage expectations to avoid not meeting them.

Perhaps the elusive search for happiness is actually a search for the right level of dopamine. From this perspective, to create a ‘happy’ life perhaps you should live a life with a good amount of novelty, create opportunities for unexpected rewards, and believe that things are always going to get slightly better.

It turns out that conscious control over the limbic system is possible, not by suppressing a feeling, but rather by changing the interpretation that creates the feeling in the first place. One difference between labeling and reappraisal, though, is that while people incorrectly predict that labeling will increase arousal, they correctly predict that reappraisal can reduce arousal.

A final word, a brain-based farewell greeting: May your cortisol levels stay low, your dopamine levels high, your oxytocin run thick and rich, your serotonin build to a lovely plateau, and your ability to watch your brain at work keep you fascinated until your last breath. I wish you well on your journey.

One final insight about prioritizing involves getting disciplined about what you *don’t* put on the stage. This means *not* thinking when you don’t have to, becoming disciplined about not paying attention to non-urgent tasks unless, or until, it’s truly essential that you do. Learning to say no to tasks that are not among your priorities is difficult but very helpful.